Who's waiting till the bitter end for waitlists?

So I'm planning on waiting till the very end for two waitlists that I'm on and its getting a little stressful to make moving plans, financial plans, and car plans but have nothing be 100% set in stone. Both of the programs have told me that they have called people at the very last minute (ie, even a day before classes start) but its like 200% unpredictable so I'm almost ready to give up hope. I'm just curious to see what other people are doing.

I'm moving down to SD very soon for a summer tutorial program unless I get a call from the SF JMP or Cornell before then. And I'm planning on moving back to SF or moving to NYC at the last minute from SD (dropping the summer program) if necessary. It could be a bit rough/expensive but I think its worth it.

Anyone else in a similar situation? Moving/starting up at one place for potentially no reason? I just really have to do this summer program to comfortably survive the first year at UCSD as a non-science major that's been out of school for awhile.

7+ Year Member

I'm on 3 waitlists at Chicago and NYC schools. I think the key is not to sign a rental contract that's binding (Try to see if there are places that don't require a year contract)...Moving will be a pain but just pack lightly when you first get there. Things like furnitures, beds, desks can be bought at the city you go for school.

7+ Year Member

I've given this a lot of thought. I'll be driving down to Pitt first week of July to look for housing. I'm going to try to find an apartment and sign a lease right then and there. Although I would love to go to Yale or Penn, i'm only willing to wait until the first week of July. While there is a possibility that I would get pulled off the waitlist after that, the chances are so slim that i'm not willing to end up having ****ty or expensive housing for that opportunity.

Good luck waiting, but consider if going to those schools means so much to you that you would be willing to live with the negatives of last minute decisions...

I'm on 3 waitlists at Chicago and NYC schools. I think the key is not to sign a rental contract that's binding (Try to see if there are places that don't require a year contract)...Moving will be a pain but just pack lightly when you first get there. Things like furnitures, beds, desks can be bought at the city you go for school.

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Yep, luckily I have found 2 sublet opportunities and also the summer program has furnished housing (!) so I'm probably going to do that. Yay I'm excited now

I've given this a lot of thought. I'll be driving down to Pitt first week of July to look for housing. I'm going to try to find an apartment and sign a lease right then and there. Although I would love to go to Yale or Penn, i'm only willing to wait until the first week of July. While there is a possibility that I would get pulled off the waitlist after that, the chances are so slim that i'm not willing to end up having ****ty or expensive housing for that opportunity.

Good luck waiting, but consider if going to those schools means so much to you that you would be willing to live with the negatives of last minute decisions...

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I think I am willing to live with it bc it would just involve a) coming back to what I'm familiar with and what I've already mastered- Bay area housing or b) moving into a dorm at Cornell the most exciting and simple outcome.

If you go to Pitt in July you could always find a sublet but you are so in love with Pitt that it doesn't make sense to wait through August I think.

10+ Year Member

yeah im only gonna wait till a certain date...maybe mid to late june...
luckily since davis starts so late i think i can still finding someone to live with around that time as well.

"would i not be a more finished person had i been provided a chart, a map, a design for living?
i believe so. i also believe that the world i know, given such a chart, would have been narrowed, constricted, diminished: a more ordered and less risky world but not the world I wanted, Not free, not Berkeley, not me."

mdapps:988

University of California, Berkeley c/o 2002
Michigan State University - CHM c/o 2009

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10+ Year Member

yeah i'm probably in the same boat as quideam. i'll wait until mid-july from the waitlists that i want to stay on (cornell, sf) and then just forget about it. hopefully schools will start to give some sort of feedback by the end of june as to whether or not there's a chance.

10+ Year Member

Me too, If MSSM doesnt contact me by mid to late july, I'm withdrawing and going to either Drew/UCLA or Case (which I will choose in about four weeks). I dont want the agony of thinking WHAT IF all the way up until the day of orientation.

"I'm not going to be a gunner, I'm going to be a sniper" - overheard in a medical school library

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yeah i'm probably in the same boat as quideam. i'll wait until mid-july from the waitlists that i want to stay on (cornell, sf) and then just forget about it. hopefully schools will start to give some sort of feedback by the end of june as to whether or not there's a chance.

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I hope they give some feedback yeah. I understand that now they just have no idea and there's nothing they can say at all but it really sucks.

7+ Year Member

Eraserhead--make sure you can still matriculate at another school after beginning the ucsd summer program. I have friends that did the uci summer program (which I hear they discontinued) that had to withdraw from all other schools because they were technically beginning med school.

Me too, If MSSM doesnt contact me by mid to late july, I'm withdrawing and going to either Drew/UCLA or Case (which I will choose in about four weeks). I dont want the agony of thinking WHAT IF all the way up until the day of orientation.

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Interesting, maybe I'm one of the very few that will wait till the last week of August.... hopefully anyway....

Eraserhead--make sure you can still matriculate at another school after beginning the ucsd summer program. I have friends that did the uci summer program (which I hear they discontinued) that had to withdraw from all other schools because they were technically beginning med school.

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Hmmm, yeah I'm about 90% sure this is the case. Its not really starting medical school I think I won't even have my financial aid yet... and I don't think I will get course credit.

7+ Year Member

I'm going to wait until the bitter end as well ... and I'm already stressing about how I'm going to figure out housing and all those issues. I guess I'm going to wait until late June before I start looking for a place, and then I'll just have to figure something out after that. If I end up going to Stony Brook, it's only about 45 min away from my house in NY, so I guess I could just not look for a place and assume I'll live at home for a short while if I don't get off any waitlists and can't find a place in SB last minute.

I really don't like this uncertainty though ...

Without leaps of imagination, or dreaming, we lose the excitement of possibilities. Dreaming, after all, is a form of planning.

--Gloria Steinem

Johns Hopkins School of Medicine Class of 2009
Johns Hopkins School of Public Health MPH Class of 2008

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10+ Year Member

You guys are definitely NOT alone........I'm on the waitlist at my 2 top choices, so I'm gonna try and stick it out as much as possible. I live in the midwest, so being able to move to one of my choices (also in the midwest) would be a lot easier than huffin' out to the east coast (my other waitlist location). So, I'm not really sure what dates I've set, but like you all have pointed out, it'd be nice to start planning my living situation and know what the hell I'm actually going to be next year! Its tough to look forward to something that is still so hazy

~Surgical Plumber Extraordinaire~

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7+ Year Member

I've given this a lot of thought. I'll be driving down to Pitt first week of July to look for housing. I'm going to try to find an apartment and sign a lease right then and there. Although I would love to go to Yale or Penn, i'm only willing to wait until the first week of July. While there is a possibility that I would get pulled off the waitlist after that, the chances are so slim that i'm not willing to end up having ****ty or expensive housing for that opportunity.

Good luck waiting, but consider if going to those schools means so much to you that you would be willing to live with the negatives of last minute decisions...

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Hey Quid!

We are in the exact same situation. Both accepted to Pitt and both on waitlists at Yale and UPenn. Would you please be my waitlist buddy? Good luck with everything! I am going to wait until the last minute if I must for both schools, especially UPenn.

U Pitt Class of 2009 I am going to be a doctor! Woohoo!

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You guys are definitely NOT alone........I'm on the waitlist at my 2 top choices, so I'm gonna try and stick it out as much as possible. I live in the midwest, so being able to move to one of my choices (also in the midwest) would be a lot easier than huffin' out to the east coast (my other waitlist location). So, I'm not really sure what dates I've set, but like you all have pointed out, it'd be nice to start planning my living situation and know what the hell I'm actually going to be next year! Its tough to look forward to something that is still so hazy

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Hmmm the way I'm looking at it its like applications, its tough to spend all the money on apps to schools you don't really WANT to go to but you do it anyway because its important that you go to a good school and a school in a certain area, and an affordable school, etc. etc. Well, moving twice in the worst case scenario is worth it because you can look forward to your current acceptance and your new location (and leaving your job ) and whatever else and then if you get the better option later its worth the trouble and extra cost to change plans... and you'll end up happier in the end because you won't have spent the summer waiting around and obsessing.

7+ Year Member

Eraserhead and all the rest of the w-list people. I'm on three lists and I hope that just one calls me up this summer. When it comes to jobs and school it does suck. I just relocated and I will be moving up to LA in a few weeks to start a new job. Does anyone know what percentage of people on the w-list actually get accepted. I wish the best luck to everyone on getting that call in early June or whenever it may be.

Rock On !!

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7+ Year Member

My sisters friend was called up the day classes started in August. He accepted the offer and drove 14 hours to the school, and spent the first week living out of his car. The only peoblem he had was financial aid stuff since he was late filing papers and had to take the loan directly from the school.

Rock On !!

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10+ Year Member

My brother-in-law was accepted at his top choice two weeks before classes started (many years ago). He found housing, moved, and jumped in with both feet - he ended up graduating near the top of his class at a great school and had an awesome time there. Don't give up hope until the term has begun!

7+ Year Member

yea, I will be on the waitlist at my top choice until they start school or accept me, I won't withdraw. If that means that I have to leave the night before classes start I will. The only problem with that is you would miss orientation and the white coat ceremony which I am looking forward to. Luckily my top choice has dorms so I can always live there.

I'm going outside....to STALK....Lenny and Carl.....D'oh!!

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10+ Year Member

I don't know if I will be able to wait or not. I really don't like waiting, but I always wanted to go to Pitt and now I like Case too. Temple is my only acceptance and I can't imagine turning down Pitt or Case for Temple, but I just want to decide. . It might be hard to find an apartment if I wait even until the end of June. I keep thinking, "Why don't I just go to the school that actually wants me?" This is poopy. You heard me . . I said poopy!

I am in a similar situation as some other people. I currently live in philly and am accepted to Drexel, but I still have to hear from Tufts and NYMC. I am waitlisted at Jefferson and a couple of others that I just ignored. I'm about 99.9% sure that I would choose Drexel over NYMC, but am less sure in the Drexel vs.Tufts debate. However, I feel like I can't even think about it since I don't even have a decision from Tufts yet. My apartment lease in philly ends May 31, so I would like to have some idea of what I am doing next year before then so I could maybe look for housing in philly while I'm still here. All of this would be so much easier if Jefferson would just accept me already. If I do decide Drexel over Tufts (or if the decision is made for me) then I can just get an apartment in Philadelphia and wait until the bitter end for Jeff if necessary. There are just way too many scenarios. When I applied for college, I was only waitlisted at one place and I didn't even want to go there anyway. I hate waitlists.

5+ Year Member

Hey all, glad to to see I'm not alone. I'm on the "alternate" list at four schools in the midwest and I am very familiar with the frustration of the situation. I've been on the alternate list at my alma mater since November and my state's medical school put me in the 3rd tier of their alternate list. So, beyond feeling a little betrayed, I'm also really not excited at the prospect of re-applying. Good luck to us all.